Fresno State groper found guilty on 2 of 4 counts of misdemeanor sexual battery

Saturday, August 26, 2017
Fresno State groper found guilty on 2 of 4 counts of misdemeanor sexual battery
Deandre Jean-Pierre, a former Fresno State Time-Out mascot, was found guilty on two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery. The jury was split and could not reach a verdict on the third count. He was found not-guilty on the fourth count.

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Minutes after a Fresno jury found Deandre Jean-Pierre guilty on two counts of sexual battery Friday morning, the judge remanded him and sent him to jail.

Bail won't be set for the former Fresno State Timeout mascot until he is sentenced in a few weeks. Jurors didn't buy Jean-Pierre's story about being in Sacramento the evening two of the women were groped.

They could not reach a verdict on one count and found him not guilty on the last charge. Jean-Pierre was not expecting the ending he got Friday, according to his attorney.

For the first time during the trial, he became emotional as he learned of the guilty verdicts on two counts.

RELATED: Deandre Jean-Pierre now facing 4 misdemeanor counts of alleged groping attacks

"He is very, very disappointed," attorney Franz Criego said. "I mean he's on the verge of tears. There's not much more I can say in that regard."

After talking with jurors, Criego confirmed they did not believe the alibi provided by Jean-Pierre and his friends about being in Sacramento during the two incidents on October 23.

A picture posted on social media that day wasn't enough to convince jurors the suspect was not in town. The judge addressed those crimes and pointed out something else.

"A closer look at the defendant's calendar, he states that he was at the NAACP convention on the 20th, 21st, and the 22nd," Judge John Vogt said. "Not the 23rd."

The prosecutor declined to comment on the mixed verdict. Earlier this week, the two victims who Jean-Pierre was found guilty of groping were very descriptive about what happened.

"I was pushed down, all of my stuff fell all over the place and I was grabbed under my dress," she said.

On Friday, after a brief recess to consider imposing a sentence immediately, the judge ordered Jean-Pierre be remanded without bail and set sentencing for mid-September.

He could be punished by of up to a year in prison on each count, a fine of $2,000 and mandatory lifetime registration as a sex offender.

Criego doesn't like those options, and he is already building his case for an appeal. Jean-Pierre's mother was at sentencing Friday. She was shocked by his arrest and cried as she left the courtroom.

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